A stacked men’s field that includes five current IRONMAN Championship title holders promises to put on quite a show in Germany on Sunday.

by Kevin Mackinnon

They’ve never done anything halfway at the Frankfurter Sparkasse IRONMAN European Championship. Renowned for its strong fields, huge crowds and incredible organization, everything about this race is big—even the 16-syllable official name. Add to the tongue-twisting title the huge crowds that line the course (among the biggest in the sport with up to a half-million spectators), a men's field that is hands down the most competitive ever assembled outside of Kona, and almost 3,000 athletes who will negotiate 140.6 miles of swimming, biking and running in a major European city, and you have one of the biggest events in our sport.

Michael Lovato and Matt Lieto preview the race:

Monstrous men's field

The list of champions competing on Sunday in the men's race is incredible. While there are a number of IRONMAN champions on the start list, five stand out:

-Marino Vanhoenacker - defending European champion

-Pete Jacobs - defending world champion

-Sebastien Kienle - defending 70.3 world champion

-Michael Raelert - defending 70.3 European champion

-Eneko Llanos - defending Asia-Pacific champion

While the focus on Sunday will be on that elite group, it's not like they are the only men capable of winning the race. Others to watch include two-time Lanzarote champ. Bert Jammaer; 2000 Olympic silver medalist and 2007 IRONMAN Florida champ Stephan Vuckovic; last year's IRONMAN Cairns champ, David Dellow; former UK winner Fraser Cartmell; last year's Kalmar winner Jan Raphael; and, while he might not be too much of a factor on Sunday, certainly a sentimental favorite, 1997 IRONMAN world champ Thomas Hellriegel.

Since there are another 50-plus men ready to line up on Sunday in the pro race, suffice it to say that we’re looking forward to an interesting race on Sunday.

Open women's race?

The last time we geared up for a big men’s race here in Frankfurt, Nicole Leder and Andrea Brede stole the show with a stride-for-stride marathon that ended with a sprint finish to the line in 2007. While the men’s race is filled with former IRONMAN champs, the women’s race is considerably more wide open. Last year’s IRONMAN Brazil champ, Sofie Goos, will be one of the women to keep an eye on this weekend. Then there's 2010 IRONMAN 70.3 world champion Jodie Swallow has been dealing with injury issues for a few years, but when she’s on she is capable of swimming and biking away from anyone.

For the home country, Kristen Moller, who won in Lanzarote last month, is certainly one of the women to watch, but if she’s going to win she’ll likely have to run her way to the title—her weak swim will have her chasing for much of the day. A safer bet for German fans might be last year’s runner-up here in Frankfurt, Anja Beranek, who has been focused on this race for over six months. Another interesting addition to the field is Natascha Schmitt, who is coming off a fifth-place finish at IRONMAN 70.3 Mallorca and will be competing in her first IRONMAN this weekend.

Check back with us here at Ironman.com for our live coverage of Sunday’s race including video, photos and text updates in English, German and French.